Ever notice how frequently we seem to forget the original insight underlying our castles of complexity?
Simple truths, like simple pleasures, are often overlooked in our rush from moment to monument.
Chanced into several patches of clarity recently on the West Coast in Calaveras County. Had ventured west to see the California redwoods. Calaveras County has two of the last remaing groves of these magnificent trees.
A "Sequoia" redwood is a perfect example of the expression, "You have to see it to believe it." A 300-foot tall tree, 30 feet in circumference? No Easterner will ever accept on faith that the "first limb 150 feet up (!) on the General Sherman Sequoia tree is larger than any tree east of the Mississippi River".
It's kind of difficult to exaggerate about a Sequoia. "Discovered"
in 1852 by Augustus T. Dowd, one of the largest trees was cut and a
section shipped east for exhibition. A tree of such size was unthinkable in New York and Boston and the exhibit was roundly branded a hoax. The stump of that tree, by
the way, was later covered with a pavilion and used as a dance hall!
Clearly, a case where one can't see the tree for the forests....
You've seen the bottom part or the top
half, but a "full length" photo is a rarity. To capture the full height
of a Sequoia requires that you step back so far that you lose
perspective! Sequoias are found only in limited
groves in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and require a delicate balance of
climate, rainfall, altitude and soil type to prosper.
These giants have
extremely shallow root systems and therefore rely heavily on the dense
forest for protection against erosion and the forces of the wind. For support and survival, the
fragile Sequoia requires the presence of a complex ecosystem, including ponderosa and sugar
pines, white fir, dogwood, bracken ferns, incense cedar and an active
creek.
Any message here? I thought there might be several...
The credit union movement represents a
dynamic, finely-balanced, eco-financial system. There are many ferns,
cedars, firs and ponderosa pines in the CU movement – and yes, a few
Sequoias. A substantial amount of "logging" is going on in "our forest."
Whether the cutting tools are mergers, liquidations or
consolidations; the end result of the current process seems pretty
"clear cut". Have we overlooked the
fact that even Sequoias, when left standing alone, stripped of support
and protection, are unable to resist "the elements"?
Maybe as a movement we've made the choice against "conservation" and I just missed the debate. Maybe we really know where we're going with this furious logging activity. Maybe we shouldn't worry about reforestation.
Maybe as a movement we've made the choice against "conservation" and I just missed the debate. Maybe we really know where we're going with this furious logging activity. Maybe we shouldn't worry about reforestation.
But... It's a well-known fact that new Sequoias do not sprout from the stumps of past cuttings. Could the stumps in Calaveras County be eloquent reminders for credit unions of how often our
failure to consider the future becomes an irretrievable mistake?
Some CU folks seem to have a personal axe - of self-interest - to grind on this matter.
😎 On this issue, shouldn't we put aside the axe and sharpen our wits
first?
As the saying goes...
"The first rule of tinkering is to save all the parts."
